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Capitalism's Contradictions: Studies of Economic Thought Before and After Marx
Henryk Grossman was one of the best-known and most influential Marxist economists of the 20th century, and yet most of his work remains unavailable to English-speaking audiences. His most famous book, The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System —written while Grossman was a member of the illustrious Frankfurt School—has been a point of reference for several generations of revolutionaries discontent with both Keynesian and Stalinist claims about Capitalism’s stability.
This volume, collected and introduced by Deutscher Prize winning Grossman biographer Rick Kuhn, assembles several of the Galician Marxist’s most important essays, and serves as an accessible introduction to his project of ‘recovering’ Marx. Throughout the collection, Grossman highlights distinctive features of Marx’s economic theory by contrasting it with the views of his forerunners, from Adam Smith to Jean Charles Sismondi. He then moves on to show how many Marxist economists import faulty assumptions from mainstream economics into their analyses, and in the process provides a unique overview of the major debates among Marxists over politics and economics between Marx’s death and the rise of Fascism in Germany.
Rick Kuhn’s invaluable introduction provides vital context for understanding the development of Grossman’s ideas and makes the case for their continued relevance to contemporary activists.
This volume, collected and introduced by Deutscher Prize winning Grossman biographer Rick Kuhn, assembles several of the Galician Marxist’s most important essays, and serves as an accessible introduction to his project of ‘recovering’ Marx. Throughout the collection, Grossman highlights distinctive features of Marx’s economic theory by contrasting it with the views of his forerunners, from Adam Smith to Jean Charles Sismondi. He then moves on to show how many Marxist economists import faulty assumptions from mainstream economics into their analyses, and in the process provides a unique overview of the major debates among Marxists over politics and economics between Marx’s death and the rise of Fascism in Germany.
Rick Kuhn’s invaluable introduction provides vital context for understanding the development of Grossman’s ideas and makes the case for their continued relevance to contemporary activists.
304 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2017
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About the author
Henryk Grossman
9 books5 followersalternative spelling: Henryk Grossmann
Polish economist, historian, and Marxist revolutionary active in both Poland and Germany.
Grossman's key contribution to political-economic theory was his book, The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, a study in Marxian crisis theory. It was published in Leipzig months before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Polish economist, historian, and Marxist revolutionary active in both Poland and Germany.
Grossman's key contribution to political-economic theory was his book, The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, a study in Marxian crisis theory. It was published in Leipzig months before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
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June 13, 2020
The significance of Henryk Grossman's rediscovery of Marx's political economy cannot be overstated. Following the fantastic introduction from Grossman biographer, editor and translator Rick Kuhn, we delve into various, interrelated essays written by Grossman in his struggle to rescue the truly significant elements of Marx's theory.
Through groundbreaking original research, Grossman discovers the roots of various political discoveries and theories, some wrongly attributed to Marx. But the purpose of this is not to brand Marx a plagiarist, as some of his critics charge. On the contrary. The purpose of this exploration is to rebase the focus of Marx's political economy upon the genuinely significant elements of his theoretical exposition, namely in the duality of labour, value and all economic phenomena under capitalism. In doing so he corrects the common narrative of prominent figures such as Simonde de Sismondi, and reinterprets their contributions to political economy in this light.
Grossman expertly and confidently delves into the fundamental importance of Marx's synthesis of use value and exchange value. Following his extensive studies of various theoreticians and historians, Grossman concludes that both before and after Marx, one form of value was focused on to the exclusion of the other. This failure to grasp the dual nature of economic phenomena under capitalism had grave consequences, namely the failure to theoretically determine that the 'natural' state of being for capitalism is not equilibrium, but the opposite. And the greater the accumulation of capital, the more profound the magnitude and effects of such disequilibrium. It is here where Grossman can most strongly critique the neo-Harmonists of the German Social-Democratic Party, the proponents of the theory of marginal utility, and Marxists such as Luxemburg who had attempted (and failed, according to Grossman) to discover capitalism's economic basis for crisis.
As he does in the The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, Being also a Theory of Crises, Grossman shows that the cause of crisis and disequilibrium under capitalism is not found in under-consumption, mismatched capital investment decisions, distribution or such nebulous concepts as human nature or its psychology (e.g. lack of consumer or business confidence). He firmly re-establishes Marx's theory of crisis and breakdown in the production process, itself being the unity of the abstract valorisation process and the concrete labour process, producing, respectively, value and use value.
This is an invaluable text for any Marxist seeking to discover the vital kernel of Marx's political economy. A tremendous thanks must go to Kuhn in his efforts to bring back to life the indispensable theoretical expeditions and discoveries of Grossman.
Through groundbreaking original research, Grossman discovers the roots of various political discoveries and theories, some wrongly attributed to Marx. But the purpose of this is not to brand Marx a plagiarist, as some of his critics charge. On the contrary. The purpose of this exploration is to rebase the focus of Marx's political economy upon the genuinely significant elements of his theoretical exposition, namely in the duality of labour, value and all economic phenomena under capitalism. In doing so he corrects the common narrative of prominent figures such as Simonde de Sismondi, and reinterprets their contributions to political economy in this light.
Grossman expertly and confidently delves into the fundamental importance of Marx's synthesis of use value and exchange value. Following his extensive studies of various theoreticians and historians, Grossman concludes that both before and after Marx, one form of value was focused on to the exclusion of the other. This failure to grasp the dual nature of economic phenomena under capitalism had grave consequences, namely the failure to theoretically determine that the 'natural' state of being for capitalism is not equilibrium, but the opposite. And the greater the accumulation of capital, the more profound the magnitude and effects of such disequilibrium. It is here where Grossman can most strongly critique the neo-Harmonists of the German Social-Democratic Party, the proponents of the theory of marginal utility, and Marxists such as Luxemburg who had attempted (and failed, according to Grossman) to discover capitalism's economic basis for crisis.
As he does in the The Law of Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System, Being also a Theory of Crises, Grossman shows that the cause of crisis and disequilibrium under capitalism is not found in under-consumption, mismatched capital investment decisions, distribution or such nebulous concepts as human nature or its psychology (e.g. lack of consumer or business confidence). He firmly re-establishes Marx's theory of crisis and breakdown in the production process, itself being the unity of the abstract valorisation process and the concrete labour process, producing, respectively, value and use value.
This is an invaluable text for any Marxist seeking to discover the vital kernel of Marx's political economy. A tremendous thanks must go to Kuhn in his efforts to bring back to life the indispensable theoretical expeditions and discoveries of Grossman.
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